Again a garrison had escaped through the mountain snows when the news reached it that Jackson was at hand.

But they found supplies of food, filled their empty stomachs, and as Langdon had foretold, quickly started anew in search of another enemy elsewhere.
But the men finally broke down under the driving of the merciless Jackson.

Many of them began to murmur.

They had left the bleeding trail of their feet over many an icy road, and some said they were ready to lie down in the snow and die before they would march another mile.

A great depression, which was physical rather than mental, a depression born of exhaustion and intense bodily suffering, seized the army.
Jackson, although with a will of steel, was compelled to yield.